Sue Diamond
Sue Diamond is a supporting character in The Diamond Girls by Jacqueline Wilson. ''She is the mother of Martine, Jude, Rochelle, Dixie and Sundance Diamond. Physical Appearance Sue is described as being very pretty by her daughter Dixie, with long, thick black hair. She looks a lot like her eldest daughter, Martine. Sue often wears short skirts and lots of black eye make-up; she also frequently wears a black silk kimono as a nightdress. Biography Background Sue was apparently raised in London. Her father is never mentioned, so its possible he died or left her mother. Sue had a strained relationship with her mother, who felt that she would never make anything of herself. When Sue was in Year 10 at high school, she started going out with a boy named Dave, who she describes as being her first love. When she was sixteen, Sue got pregnant with Dave's baby and had a daughter named Martine. Sue moved out of her mother's house to look after her daughter. She and Dave ended up breaking up, as Dave felt he couldn't cope with raising a child "when he was just a kid himself". He didn't keep touch and later left for Australia. About two years later, Sue was in another relationship with a man named Dean, who fathered her second daughter Jude. Sue loved Dean, but their relationship was quite volatile due to Dean's anger issues. When Dean started physically abusing Sue and Martine, she left him. Her next relationship was with a man named Jordan, a handsome and talented musician with whom she had a third daughter, Rochelle. Unfortunately, Jordan had a drug addiction and when Rochelle was two, he died of an overdose. Sue was devastated by his death, but was comforted by an embalmer named Terry, who helped her sort out the funeral. They ended up having an one night stand resulting in Dixie's birth. However Terry is already married with children so cannot openly acknowledge Dixie as his daughter. Sue believes if he didn't already have a family, she would have ended up with him. Terry is the only one of Sue's former boyfriends she is still in contact with. Sue and her daughters end up living in a three-bedroom council flat in the North Block on an estate named Bletchworth. Several months before the beginning of the novel, Sue has a brief relationship with an unnamed man or possibly a one night stand and gets pregnant again. She doesn't say much about the baby's father, only mentioning he was an artist and she knew it wasn't going to last. Martine even suggests she doesn't know his name. Sue hopes that her new baby will be a boy and predicts it will be via her fortune-telling, which is a hobby of her's. She eventually tells her daughters that a scan confirmed that her fifth child will be male. ''The Diamond Girls Sue is almost due to give birth to her new baby, whom she decides to name Sundance, after The Sundance Kid. She tells her daughters they are moving to a proper house on the Planet Estate, as it will be a fresh start and there will be more room. Some of her daughters are unhappy with this decision, especially Martine, who fights a lot with Sue over it. Sue gets Terry to send his work-friend Bruce to help them move. Sue is horrified when the Planet Estate and their new house turns out to be a ramshackle dump. She tries to stay positive and starts cleaning up the place, but things go further downhill when the baby comes early. Sue gives birth to a girl, not a boy. She is so disappointed and upset, she pretends that sundance is a boy anyway and spends most of her time lying about and neglecting her daughters. She is very overprotective of Sundance and it is implied she is suffering from post-natal depression. When Dixie discovers that Sundance is actually a girl, Sue persuades her not to tell anyone and lets her care for Sundance. She guesses that Martine is pregnant and is furious with her. Sue is devastated when Martine calls a slag and storms out, intending to go back to Bletchworth to be with her boyfriend. Her remaining daughters and Bruce comfort her, with Bruce saying that even though Sue has had a lot of boyfriends, likes to party and has a habit of swearing, he doesn't believe she's a slag and that she truly cares about her children. After Dixie is seriously injuring trying to save her friend Mary, Sue snaps out of her depression. She is by Dixie's side when she wakes up in hospital and says she's going to do her best to look after them all from now on. She reveals that Sundance is actually a girl, but says she no longer minds. Sue also reconciles with Martine and says she'll help take of her and her baby, when it arrives.